"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." Henry David Thoreau

Ibex Dunes

Ibex Dunes and Saratoga Springs are two of our favorite spots in Death Valley. They are at the extreme south end of the park accessible by a gravel road that spurs off of the Badwater Road. We had a night and the next morning off from work a week ago, so we decided to drive down and visit.

The muddy Amargosa River.

We have heard that on wet years it actually flows through the south end of Death Valley, but have driven through here several times and have never seen it. Well, it's true....it does exist!

We also ran across some wild burros.

After they ran beside us and in front of us, they stopped to watch.

A few puddles are still left around the dunes.

A beetle leaving his trail.

An unusual line in the sand.

The moonrise over the dunes.

Ibex Dunes has some of the coolest rocks we have ever seen.

Andrew took a few night photos of the dunes under the moonlight.

The next morning we headed over to Saratoga Springs for the sunrise.

The Panamint Mountains in the distant.

Telescope Peak

The rocks are crusty with dried up minerals.

Beautiful grass around the spring.

We continued on the gravel road over Ibex Pass to complete a loop back to Furnace Creek. We were a little concerned about the deep sand that has never been a problem in the past with the truck, but the Rav did great! We both figured it would do fine that's why we went through with it, but you never know until you try (and we did have to work later that day).

What are we doing now?

Trekking up to the top of North America...

It has been a long time coming and we are super excited just to have the opportunity to be on the grandest mountain we have ever seen, Denali. It is quite the journey to the top and only 50% of people who attempt it will actually make it to the top. And we know that it is not all about the summit, but that is definitely the icing on the cake! The journey up the snowy slopes will be pretty satisfying in itself.